A decade ago, the U. S. Supreme Court established what are now known as "Beck
rights" in the landmark decision Communication Workers v. Beck.1 Beck rights
dictate that workers cannot be forced under union contracts to pay any dues or fees beyond
those necessary for the performance of the union's employee representation duties.

In other words, any worker who objects to his union's use of his dues money for
purposes not directly related to collective bargaining is entitled to a refund of that
portion of his dues. Beck rights are a triumph of individual rights over the
political weight of union leaders.

Although the Beck rights of union workers are well established as a matter of
American labor policy, they go largely unrealized in practice for the following four
reasons:

Most workers simply do not know that they have these rights;

Workers who are aware of these rights are forced to make the
sometimes-untenable choice of resigning from their union in order to exercise them;

Workers do not have recourse to an effective legal enforcement mechanism if their Beck
rights are denied them by their employer or union; and

Unions, who don't agree with the exercise of Beck rights, often engage in a
variety of tactics to delay and frustrate workers who wish to limit their dues payments.